


Scars - Luna Lovegood

by orphan_account



Series: Scars [11]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Depression, Hogwarts, Hurt/Comfort, PTSD, Post-War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-16
Updated: 2011-07-16
Packaged: 2017-10-21 10:54:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/224407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everyone has scars from the war. Some are emotional scars, heavy burdens and regrets, and others are physical, deep gash marks and half healed burns. But everyone has scars.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Scars - Luna Lovegood

Everyone else, somehow, manages to  _do_ something. Ginny heads up the teams that are repairing the castle; Hermione is busy restoring the library and record keeping; Neville is busy in the Greenhouses working to harvest plants for healing potions; Harry is working with the Ministry to round up the rest of Voldemort's supporters; Ron has been working on fixing the quidditch pitch.

But Luna doesn't  _do_  anything. She drifts, aimlessly, from place to place, and when someone jokingly asks her about Nargles, she flatly responds with, "No, I don't think so."

She doesn't think anything anymore.

***

Luna spend the first night of her Seventh year at Hogwarts curled up in the chair by the fire, clenching and unclenching the scarred hand that will always read  _Blood Traitor._

A little first year girl comes over to her and whispers, "You're Luna Lovegood, aren't you? I've heard all about you. You led Dumbledore's Army last year and fought in the resistance and wouldn't betray your friends, even to-" The girl swallowed. "Voldemort."

"That's me."

The girl looks at her with admiration. "I want to be just like you when I'm older," she says, and flounces up the stairs.

She's long gone before Luna manages to whisper, "No, you don't."

 _You really don't._

 _***_

"Miss Lovegood, please stay behind," Professor McGonagall announces at the end of class.

When everyone leaves, her transfiguration professor looks at her with pity and concern and asks, "How are you dealing with the events of last year?"

Luna doesn't have enough to time to think of a clever response, so she simply blurts out the first thing that comes to mind.

"I'm not."

***

There's a fourth-year girl in the dormitory next to hers, who wakes up every night screaming about Carrows and torture and curses and her dead brother. Luna can hear her roommates trying to comfort her, but it happens every night, without fail.

She never knows what to do or even if she can help, so she just curls up and sits in the window, watching the night sky. For some reason, when Luna looks out the window, the sky stays black. The stars don't come out.

Luna can't even stop her own nightmares. What makes her think she'll be able to help someone else?

***

The cold wind blows through her dirty blond hair. Her two roommates sleep soundly, but there's an empty bed that no one is every going to sleep in again, and words engraved in her hands, and next door she can hear the girl begging for someone, anyone, to stop it.

How can anything be the same?

***

Ginny finally hauls her out of Ravenclaw tower and down to the lake, where she doesn't say anything, but she sits next to Luna and lets her lean on Ginny's shoulder and listens while she cries.

It's wonderful to have someone who isn't afraid of her, or admiring, or who treats her like a scared animal. Ginny understands.

"Look, Luna," she finally says. "I'm more than what the Carrows did to me. I'm more than those nightmares or memories or anything else. And so are you, so you need to stop surviving and start living because it's frankly rather insulting to those who aren't."

Then Ginny leaves and Luna is left staring at the lake.

 _I'm more than my scars._

 _***_

Many, many years later, her son runs up to her while she's gardening and asks her about the scars on her arm.

It takes courage, but Luna still manages to say, "They aren't important."

 _I am more than my memories._


End file.
